COVER -- HALF-TITLE -- TITLE -- COPYRIGHT -- CONTENTS -- CONTRIBUTORS -- EDITORS' PREFACE -- An overview of biofilms as functional communities -- INTRODUCTION -- INVESTIGATIVE METHODS -- Growth systems -- Microscopy -- Microelectrode experiments -- Molecular methods -- Other methods -- ADHESION AND EARLY EVENTS IN BIOFILM DEVELOPMENT -- BIOFILM STRUCTURE -- The role of physico-chemical factors -- Cellular control systems -- COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS -- Model communities -- Stochastic or deterministic factors? -- Factors affecting possible levels of community interaction -- REFERENCES -- Initial microbial adhesion events: mechanisms and implications -- INTRODUCTION -- CONDITIONING FILM FORMATION -- MICROBIAL MASS TRANSPORT -- INITIAL ADHESION AND ANCHORING -- COAGGREGATION AND COADHESION -- SURFACE GROWTH -- DETACHMENT -- ANTI-ADHESIVE INITIAL ADHESION EVENTS IN A BIOFILM -- SUMMARY -- REFERENCES -- Physiological events in biofilm formation -- INTRODUCTION -- INITIAL EVENTS IN BIOFILM FORMATION -- IRREVERSIBLE ATTACHMENT -- BIOFILM MATURATION -- CONCLUSIONS -- REFERENCES -- Environmental and genetic factors influencing biofilm structure -- INTRODUCTION -- HYDRODYNAMICS -- Fluid-like flow of biofilm microcolonies over the substratum -- NUTRIENTS AND HYDRODYNAMICS -- GENETIC REGULATION OF BIOFILM STRUCTURE -- Cell signalling and quorum sensing -- Cell signalling and hydrodynamics -- Biofilm structures formed through twitching motility -- DISCUSSION -- Biofilm development and behaviour: nature or nurture? -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- REFERENCES -- Coaggregation and coadhesion in oral biofilms -- COAGGREGATION AND COADHESION -- COAGGREGATION AMONG HUMAN ORAL BACTERIA -- Streptococcus -- Actinomyces -- Fusobacterium -- BACTERIAL ADHESION AND COADHESION -- RECEPTOR POLYSACCHARIDES -- SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT OF CELLS ON SALIVA-COATED SURFACES -- REFERENCES.

Cohesiveness in biofilm matrix polymers -- MICROBIAL AGGREGATES -- EXTRACELLULAR POLYMERIC SUBSTANCES AND THEIR ROLE AS MICROBIAL AGGREGATE CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL -- Composition and properties of EPS -- COHESIVENESS OF MATRIX POLYMERS -- London (dispersion) forces -- Electrostatic interactions -- Hydrogen bonds -- Entanglements -- An example: electrostatic interactions -- ROLE OF EPS IN MICROBIAL AGGREGATION -- REFERENCES -- Microbial detachment from biofilms -- INTRODUCTION -- MECHANISMS OF BIOFILM DETACHMENT -- Detachment processes -- Factors influencing detachment -- METHODS FOR THE STUDY OF BIOFILM DETACHMENT -- 'Three choice' experimenting -- Critical evaluation of methods used for detachment studies -- CASE STUDY: THE CONTROL OF CLINICAL BIOFILMS -- Man-made surfaces -- Human tissues -- CASE STUDY: BIOFILM DETACHMENT - THE POTENTIAL HAZARDS IN THE WATER INDUSTRY -- Biofilms in water systems -- Methods of water treatment -- Biofilm control in water systems -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES -- Modelling and predicting biofilm structure -- INTRODUCTION TO BIOFILM STRUCTURE -- Types of biofilm heterogeneity -- Quantifying biofilm geometrical heterogeneity -- Importance of biofilm structure upon properties -- Factors influencing biofilm structure formation -- Evolution of biofilm models -- BUILDING A MODEL FOR PREDICTION OF BIOFILM STRUCTURE -- Processes in biofilm models -- Spatial scales -- Mathematical modelling of biofilm processes -- Timescales - coupling the processes in time -- APPLICATIONS OF MODELS FOR BIOFILM STRUCTURE -- Diffusion-reaction-growth biofilm models -- Convection-diffusion-reaction-growth biofilm models -- Convection-diffusion-reaction-growth-detachment biofilm models -- CONCLUSIONS -- REFERENCES -- Microbial community interactions in biofilms -- INTRODUCTION -- DEVELOPMENT OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES -- STRUCTURE OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES -- BACTERIAL DIVERSITY WITHIN COMMUNITIES -- POSSIBLE INTERACTIONS AMONG MEMBERS OF BACTERIAL COMMUNITIES -- Symbiosis and antagonism -- Gene transfer -- CONSEQUENCES OF A COMMUNITY LIFESTYLE -- Extended habitat range -- Increased metabolic diversity and efficiency -- Increased protection from host/environmental stresses -- Pathogenic synergism -- CELL-CELL SIGNALLING -- CONCLUDING REMARKS -- REFERENCES -- Microbial communities: aggregates of individuals or co-ordinated systems -- INTRODUCTION -- THE SCIO MODEL -- Organisms -- Structure -- Interactions -- Communication -- FLOW-CHAMBER BIOFILM COMMUNITIES -- COMPETITION, COMMENSALISM AND SYNTROPHY IN COMPOSITE MICROBIAL BIOFILMS -- COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION -- Monospecies biofilms -- Multiple-species biofilms -- NATURE OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- REFERENCES -- Gene transfer in biofilms -- INTRODUCTION -- MECHANISMS OF HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER -- Transformation -- Transduction -- Conjugation -- CONJUGATION IN THE ENVIRONMENT -- Environmental factors affecting conjugation -- Conjugation in aqueous phase systems -- Conjugation in soils and sediments -- GENE TRANSFER IN BIOFILM SYSTEMS -- Biofilm structure -- Biofilm versus planktonic cells -- Conjugation in biofilms -- CONCLUSIONS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- REFERENCES -- Population dynamics in microbial biofilms -- INTRODUCTION -- COMMUNITY DYNAMICS DURING DE NOVO BIOFILM FORMATION -- Population dynamics during biofilm formation in the alimentary tract -- Population dynamics within pseudo-steady-state biofilms -- DISPERSAL OF BIOFILM -- Erosion -- Sloughing -- IMMIGRATION/SEQUESTRATION OF CELLS TO BIOFILM -- CHAOTIC STABILITY -- DYNAMICS IN BIOFILM EVOLUTION -- Biofilms as units of proliferation -- CONCLUSIONS -- REFERENCES.

Biodegradation by biofilm communities -- INTRODUCTION -- PURE CULTURES AND BIOFILMS WITH KNOWN SPECIES COMPOSITION -- HETEROGENEOUS BIOFILM COMMUNITIES -- SPATIAL ORGANIZATION, STRATIFICATION AND THE ROLE OF EPS -- REFERENCES -- Biofilms and prosthetic devices -- THE USE OF PROSTHETIC DEVICES IN MEDICINE -- Incidence and resource implications of device-related infection -- Categorization of prosthetic devices -- Period of risk and causative organisms -- PATHOGENESIS OF DEVICE-RELATED INFECTION -- Biofilms in prosthetic-device-related infection -- Microbial adhesion to devices -- Development of biofilm -- The biofilm phenotype and its clinical implications -- STRATEGIES FOR TREATMENT AND PREVENTION -- Treatment of device-related infection -- Prevention of device-related infection -- REFERENCES -- Biofilms: problems of control -- INTRODUCTION -- BIOFILM STRUCTURE AND PHYSIOLOGY -- BIOFILM RESISTANCE TO ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS -- CHEMICAL GRADIENTS AND THE EXOPOLYMERIC MATRIX -- Regulation of exopolymer synthesis -- Function of the glycocalyx as a diffusion barrier -- Function of the glycocalyx as a reaction-sink -- PHYSIOLOGICAL GRADIENTS AND THE EXOPOLYMERIC MATRIX -- BIOFILM-SPECIFIC, ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT PHENOTYPES -- Clonal selection of resistant phenotypes -- Induction of multi-drug-resistant phenotypes -- Attachment-specific phenotypes -- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS -- REFERENCES -- Biofilms in the New Millennium: musings from a peak in Xanadu -- INTRODUCTION -- BIOFILM STRUCTURE -- Bacterial adhesion -- Biofilm formation -- Biofilm structure -- BIOFILMS AS MULTICELLULAR COMMUNITIES -- Biofilms as adaptive and ecologically functional communities -- Biofilms as dynamic communities -- VALETE -- REFERENCES -- INDEX.